Store Closing Didn't Shatter Local Businesswoman's Dream

Before Tina Van Pelt took a fused-glass, bead-making class with Judith Conway, owner of Vitrum Studios in Beltsville in 1991, she was as an accountant for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a mother of three.

Now, Pelt still works by day as an accountant, but toils by night in what she calls “a labor of love” in her Profusion of Glass art studio in Riverdale Park making everything from glass jewelry to wall tiles and dishes. She also teaches classes at the Greenbelt Community Center.

“I started out teaching PTA moms how to make glass art as an auction item for my kids’ school,” she said. “Then five years ago, I took a big leap of faith when I began to try to sell my work to people who weren’t  my friends.”

Pelt made her first sell at the Greenbelt Greenman Festival in 2006. Today, her artwork is available at the , Franklin’s Restaurant, Brewery and General Store in Hyattsville and A Show of Hands in Alexandria, Va., and teaches glass art classes. It has also been featured in museums like the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Venturing out on her own

Pelt expanded her business as a part-time vendor to a full-fledged store owner in the 2008, when she leased a retail space in the on Baltimore Avenue in Hyattsville.

In addition to selling her own artwork, Pelt held glass art classes and promoted the work of 60 local artists through a co-op, volunteer program at her Hyattsville store. Recognizing the high costs associated with advertising and hiring a paid staff, Pelt offered local artists the opportunity to volunteer in her store in exchange for being able to sell their work on her shelves.

But the timing was all wrong, Pelt said.

“A week later [after she opened her store] our home values plummeted and our stock market crashed,” Pelt said. “People didn’t even want to buy underwear for their kids unless they absolutely needed it. So, how could people justify coming to a store and buying unnecessary but beautiful things?”

So, Pelt, who kept most of her equipment in her basement, packed up her store and placed her store’s sign in the front of her Riverdale Park home.

New Beginnings

Soon after her store closed, Pelt became pregnant and had her fourth child, now 11 months old.

With a new baby and a new sense of inspiration, Pelt began to focus her creative energy on architectural glass and entering into the realm of home decor.

She is currently working on custom wall tile and cabinet door knobs, which she infuses with fine silver and copper.

“I want to provide the kind of one of a kind artful things that I think people can appreciate, things that you can’t get from The Home Depot,” she said.

Through it all, Pelt said, people in the local community — including College Park, University Park, and Hyattsville — continue to support her business.

“I really love the people in [Prince George's] County,” she said. “I’m a native and people already know me. They want to buy local. They’re going to wait on buying their special gifts from people who are local artists like myself.”

A Bright Future

Pelt is thinking about giving the store another chance in about 10 years, after she is retired and her older kids leave the nest.

She said she sees a gleam of hope for local business owners like herself in a once  barren region of Hyattsville now that businesses like Busboys & Poets and Yes! Organic Market are coming to the newly developed arts district.

“My store was a beacon of light in a dreary, drive quickly through area of Hyattsville. It had a lot against it, but I’d do it again,” she said.